Aerial pictures of track & field venues from all over the world.

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Today’s track is located right next to a huge stadium, rather than inside. Signal Iduna Park is one of the largest soccer stadiums in the world and is the seventh largest in Europe with a capacity of 80,720. Unfortunately, they do not have a track inside, but rather right outside to the east. Stadion Rote Erde (Red Earth Stadium) is actually older than the big stadium, opening in 1926. At one point in time, there were wooden bleachers here that could seat 42,000 people. After the a couple renovations and changes, there is now covered seating for 3,000, with a full capacity of 25,000. A new track surface was installed in 2008. This facility has a long history, and details and an interesting write-up with pictures can be found at martijnmureau.nl.

The track has eight full lanes. Like most European tracks, the field events are found on the inside of the track. The shot put sectors however are found outside the northeast corner of the track, among the wooded area. You’ll also notice the large areas to the east that also have a synthetic surface installed. This would be very nice for training purposes. I like how this track looks. It still has the old, historical feel, but a new surface with the huge stadium as the background.